Bradford City's band of brothers produce the perfect Hollywood script with their voyage to Wembley

The front cover of the latest The City Gent, the award-winning Bradford City
fanzine hurtling towards its 30th year, carries a cartoon of Bantams fans
marching on Wembley with one musing “any minute now I’m gonna wake up”.

Dream on: Bradford City's heroic captain Gary Jones will be leading his team out at WembleyPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

When he does, he will discover that reverie has turned into reality because of the character of Phil Parkinson and his band of brothers on a journey that should end up in Hollywood, let alone Wembley.

Bradford’s success in reaching Wembley is more than a sporting triumph. It is a tale of fighting setbacks, the type of against-all-odds plotline that sets pulses quickening in Tinseltown script meetings.

Parkinson and his players would never be presumptuous to think it, let alone proclaim it, but life lessons can be found on their voyage to the vaulting arch of Wembley.

If Bradford continue to confront and overcome adversity and win the Capital One Cup, a team from the fourth tier accounting for their fourth elite opponents, Hollywood will surely come knocking.

The appeal is obvious. Those facing life’s travails can take comfort and guidance from the deeds of Bradford’s players. Qualities like perseverance shine through, individually as players and collectively as a club.

Matt Duke, their keeper who conceded only one goal an hour over the two-legged semi-final against Aston Villa, has fought the frustration of being released by clubs, even enduring unemployment, and also conquering testicular cancer.

Parkinson’s dressing room is full of strong characters with a proper perspective on their profession, and a hunger to seize the moment. In an era when substantial sections of the public have become alienated from those self-admiring peacocks who populate parts of the Premier League, the traits of hard work, humility and togetherness suffusing Parkinson’s players are inevitably widely celebrated.

Many of their qualities are embodied in their captain, Gary Jones, tireless home and away in Bradford’s semi-final against Aston Villa. At 35, Jones joined Bradford on a one-year deal last summer, his career seemingly winding down towards retirement, perhaps with a tilt at promotion to League One. Now Jones will be leading a team out at Wembley, just as Steven Gerrard will this year with England, just as the captains of Champions League teams will in May. Jones walks among the greats.

As he steps from the tunnel, Jones will look to one side and note with pride the sea of claret and amber. He is too modest to reflect that it has been his leadership, his ball-winning strengths in midfield, and huge hunger to enjoy a final hurrah that have helped the dreams of 40,000 Bradford fans come true.

Those who rush to stereotype footballers as simple and selfish will have their clichés thrown in their face when stepping inside Valley Parade.

There is real hinterland to Parkinson’s players. James Hanson was working in a supermarket four years ago but kept his professional dream alive, even playing with a broken toe at Villa Park, and still kept Bradford on the road to Wembley.

Sometimes results are shaped as much by determination as technique. Midway through the second half at Villa Park, Hanson simply wanted the ball more than Ron Vlaar in scoring the key goal.

On the touchline, as the corner swung in, Parkinson was so willing Hanson to reach the ball that he went through a heading motion. Manager and players are all together, all heading in one direction. Hollywood producers almost have their work done for them. Just needs some judicious casting now.

Other plot-lines abound in the dressing room. The right-back, Stephen Darby, played for Liverpool in the Premier League and Champions League but was released last summer. He started again with Bradford, and is now at Wembley.

Parkinson himself was out of work for seven months after being dismissed by Charlton Athletic before Bradford appointed him. Many managers lose their way and leave the game. Parkinson persisted and has been rewarded.

So have the supporters who have been through so much. Now they are going up Wembley Way. Europe, perhaps even Hollywood, awaits.